My new obsession: Oatmeal breakfast cookies

My favorite meal of the day is breakfast. So much so that I usually eat two breakfasts a day. My latest obsession is an oatmeal breakfast cookie, created by The Fintessista (who is such a doll). You can even watch her video tutorial on how to make them here.

So for the past week, I have been preparing two of these babies the night before - one for me and one for B before he heads to class.





I love the texture (soft and chewy)and I love being able to use a variety of mix-ins for whatever I am feeling that day (cocunut, dried apricots, cinnamon, dried cranberries, etc).

I have been kind of in a 'rut' as far as a fitness routine...so to mix it up a little I have been swimming laps with one of my besties at this beautiful pool way up in the foothills (the picture doesn't do the view any justice).

I am NOT a swimmer. Like at all. My heavy breathing and sky-rocketing heart rate during a swim makes me feel like a 400lb smoker trying to walk up the stairs. Little by little, I think I am getting better though. Yesterday I swam 1000m. It was glorious. I also did a 30 minute weight circuit during the day for my lunch break.


This morning the little nugget and I got up super early to crank out a 3 mile run (with a break at the dog park in the middle) before it got too hot. She is so dramatic when we get back from runs....


But then she pulled it together for a glamour shot (I don't know how her eyeball got cut off....)

Foodie bucket list: Home-made Energy Bars

I have a food bucket list. It is made up of foods I want to learn how to cook, foods I want to 'conquer' and foods that I want to make better than Brad. More or less.

One of the foods I want to 'conquer' is home-made energy bars. I LOVE granola/energy bars. I feel like any craving I have can be fulfilled with that wonderful combination of salty nuts and sweet fruit.

I can't take full credit for creating this recipe....it came from my work bff. I changed a few things here and there, but nothing major.

The only downside to home-made energy bars is that most recipes have a lot of ingredients. This was daunting at first because I assumed it would be a really expensive Sunflower Market run. Bulk bins to the rescue! The total cost wasn't bad at all.


Preheat oven to 275. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil. Cook 1/2 cup of Quinoa on the stove-top (no picture of that, sorry). Side note, I love Quinoa.

Combine 1 cup roasted almonds, 1/2 cup walnuts, 1/4 C pecans and 1/4 cup sesame seeds in the food processor - pulse a couple of times until the nuts are pea sized


Some of them will grind finer than that, and that's ok


Now add 1 cup of dates, 1/2 cup of raisins (I used golden), 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup of apricots (or mango) to the processor and pulse until the fruit is also pea-sized. I cut the fruit up a little before I put it in there - just so I wouldn't have to over-grind the everything to get the fruit right. While it is running, drizzle in about 2TBSP of pure maple syrup.


Dump it in a bowl. This is what it will look like when you dump it into a bowl


Add 1 cup oat bran flour (I used spelt flour), 1.5 cups rolled oats, 1 cup of shredded coconut.


Stir mixture together and gradually add 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 1/4 cup almond butter (or any other nut butter), 1/4 cup of coconut oil (needs to be heated first), 1T vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon sea salt and one egg. Lastly stir in cooked quinoa. Let's be honest...mixing is much easier with your hands.

If the consistency is too dry, add more wet ingredients, if it is too wet, add more wet ingredients. duh.

Dump the mixture onto the baking sheet and spread it out evenly - making sure that all the pieces are stuck together so when you are done baking them you can cut them into bars.


Cook on the middle rack at 275 for 35 mins or until edges are slightly browned. Once baked, allow to cool for at least an hour before you cut them into bars.


Put the finished bars in the fridge so they harden and combine even more.

Yum-o



Recipe for Naomi’s Ah-mazing Energy Bars



Ingredients*

1 cup roasted almonds
½ cup walnuts
¼ cup pecans
¼ cup sesame seeds
1 cup dates
½ cup raisins
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup dried mango
½ cup cooked quinoa
1 cup oat bran flour (you can sub spelt flour, wheat flour, etc)
1.5 cup rolled oats
1 cup coconut
½ cup pure maple syrup, plus 2 TBSP
¼ cup almond butter (can sub any other nut butter)
¼ cup coconut oil warmed (can sub canola oil)
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
1 tsp sea salt
1 egg

*all ingredients should be organic when possible!

Directions

Preheat oven to 275°. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil. Cook quinoa on stovetop. Place all nuts in food processor and chop briefly until size of peas (some will grind up to a finer consistency, that’s fine. Add all dried fruit to food processor and pulse grinder until pieces are the size of peas. While machine is running, drizzle in 2 TBSP of maple syrup until mixture binds. Dump mixture into a mixing bowl and add spelt flour, oats, coconut. Stir mixture together while adding maple syrup, almond butter, coconut oil, vanilla extract, sea salt, and egg. Lastly, stir in cooked quinoa. You may have to use your hands to get all pieces evenly coated with binding agents, so the consistency is like sticky, lumpy dough. If consistency is too dry and crumbly, add more wet ingredients, if it is too goopy, add more dry ingredients. Once combined, dump out mixture onto baking sheet and spread until mixture is evenly distributed. Ensure all pieces are stuck together so when you’re done baking it can be cut into bars. Place in middle or top of oven and bake at 275° for approx 35 or until edges brown slightly. Once baked, allow to cool for at least one hour and then cut into bars. Place bars immediately into refrigerator so they harden.

My BF has his J.D.

Three very . long . years . later . he is DONE.



We had such a fabulous graduation weekend. Lots of family in town, lots of eating, drinking and being merry. I know B is glad to be done, but I am SUPER glad he is done. I feel like i have finally gotten rid of "the other woman" in his life (law school), and I have him back all to myself! Oh, except for that whole studying for the Bar thing.

I am so proud of B. I cried when graduation was over - which was very unexpected....and odd.

To celebrate, we went to California. It was a blast.

First stop was Catalina Island. Other than it being really chilly....we had fun just relaxing, driving around in a golf cart, and renting a boat to take ourselves on our own dolphin watching "cruise."


Then we went to San Diego. And loved it. It was so great to spend uninterrupted time together.

One year

My friends here and here have kids who just turned one....I have a dog that just turned one. And she weighs more than both of those babies combined...and then some.

Here are some interesting tid bits about life with Brooklyn:
1. She can finish 3 cups of food in one minute flat. The house could be burning down and she wouldn't dare take her snout out of her food bowl for a hot second to even consider escaping.
2. She sleeps under our bed. Not on top. Under. She has to wedge herself under there....i am waiting for the day when she gets stuck. It will be funny.
3. She startles herself when she farts.
4. Going up and down the stairs is the most stressful part of her day. She cries and cries and cries during the whole ordeal. It isn't that she doesn't know how to walk up or down them. It is that she mentally pysches herself out. I don't know what her issue is.....it could be that her little claws slip and slide all over the place.






Back when Brooke was just a month old...she played with this same dog

I am proud to be a Tucsonan

In the midst of this horrible tragedy...the past few days I have woken up in the morning first with a sense of fear, quickly followed by a sense of pride and admiration.

(*Side note...Obviously you the viewer reading this in January or 2011 knows what happened and all of the turn of events. I am writing this for my own good....so that 20 or 50 years down the road, I can re-read this entry, or show it to my kids)

Saturday morning was a regular morning in the Hibsman/Wilson house. I got up around 9am to keep Brooklyn company downstairs and watch a few recorded shows of Modern Family on the DVR. Bradley was sick all weekend, so he slept in until around 11. We finally got our act together and headed down to campus so that he could buy his text books and we could grab lunch. As we were just getting out of the car to head to the Union, we faintly heard the news over the radio. I don't think either of us were really paying attention. All we heard is that Gabby Giffords was shot.

Then I started receiving texts from my dad, friends, mom, etc asking if we were ok, and where we were in relation to what was happening.

We ate lunch at a little vietnamese place down on University - where I asked the manager if he could change the channel from the 'asian music videos channel' to something like CNN. He said "ya, we had that on earlier, but then it was just getting too depressing" Nice...you don't want to watch the events that are totally rocking our country unfold right now because it's 'too depressing'

So there we sat. Eating Pho and watching the TV, then listening to the news in car all afternoon while running errands. Running errands IN THE SAME TOWN where some naive heartless scumbag woke up that morning, and in his is pea-brain of a head decided to load a glock with 31 rounds and an extra magazine clip and open fire on innocent by-standers at a 'town-hall' event. Just 15 minutes from our house...in an instant....he took 6 lives, wounded 13 others, and scarred the lives of all who either knew the victims, knew someone who knew the victims, or anyone in this country who simply HAS A SOUL.

The police chief was very hesitant to release the names of the deceased victims. I think that through all this mayhem, Tucson authorities were sincerely trying to safe-guard our community from any more hurt and more national attention. This is Tucson, Arizona, for god's sake. Where hippies and intellectuals collide, where locals and immigrants can come together over a juicy sonoran dog, where native americans meet hispanics, where the University is the heart beat of the community, where you can walk around downtown in your bare feet beating your bongo drum and no one thinks twice about it, where meeting people that have lived here their whole lives is more common than not...where there is only one degree of separation between you and the person in line behind you at the coffee shop....

I digress....

Brad had mentioned that Giffords had attended University High School (Brad's alma mater) and therefore she had several UHS grads on her staff. He could only think of a couple that he knew...one of them being Gabe Zimmerman.

A few hours later, Gabe's name was released as one of the 6 who didn't make it out alive. Thirty years old...recently engaged to be married. Some of his former classmates put together an impromptu vigil outside of UHS, so we attended with one of Brad's friends/co-workers.

News crews showed up, doing the standard "I'm sorry for your loss, can you come on camera and share a few thoughts about Gabe?" We listened to a few of Gabe's closest friends share some words, then just as quietly as we arrived, we left...leaving notes, candles and flowers as sweet memories.

After dinner (which oddly enough was Pho again), we headed to University Medical Center to see the vigil that had started earlier that day. By the time we arrived, there were only about 20 or so people left. But - the media presence was overwhelming.

I have been glued to the latest updates and breaking news that they are still finding out about the event. I can't get enough of it, I want to know more about the victims, the survivors, and even the killer himself.

More later...but in the mean time, watch this clip. I have watched it at least 5 times already.

Arizona Shootings Reaction

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Confession....

I have a confession.

I am not perfect.

This (humbling) fact has been made perhaps even more clear after 11 months of living with my significant other (read domestic partner, or DP).

I've lived with a fair share of roommates - and I even lived with my parents post-college graduation - and still I was able to keep my issues to myself, my emotions hidden (for the most part) and my skeletons safely in my closet.

Nothing compares to or prepares you for dating your roommate.

I have weird quirks and (supposedly) annoying habits. If you asked me a year ago what those were, I would have told you that I have to wash my feet before bed and sometimes I leave the milk on the counter.

Until I lived with a DP. Now all of my dirty laundry is aired out for him to see. And nothing has ever made me feel more vulnerable.

Sometimes....

• All I want for dinner is spoonfuls of peanut butter dipped in honey.

• If my jeans are too tight I dramatically throw myself on the bed, cry, and refuse to leave the house.

• I say ridiculous things (translated: embarrassing) in front of big groups of smart people.

• I start reading a 'big kid' book and don't have the patience or attention span to get past page 15 (ok, that is pretty much all the time)

• I like to watch documentaries about mass murderers and serial killers....like for hours and hours

• I google really ridiculous searches...that aren't meant to be found on my search history later by another user.

• Facebook stalking can keep me occupied for HOURS. 743 not-private photos? Don't mind if I do!

• I laugh at things that aren't funny to the general population. And I laugh LOUD. So that everyone around can hear me.

• I shop online. too much. As evidenced by deliveries to our house on a twice-a-week basis.

When I first moved in with my DP, I had a really hard time letting these 'secrets' go. Ok - so they may not be exactly 'skeletons,' but they also aren't something I voluntarily share when asked "what's new?"

But now? It makes me feel even more loved that after all of this, all of my ridiculousness, he still kind of likes me and wants to call me his girlfriend.

Finding a cure....

I am so excited about this. Brad and I have talked in the past about getting more involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, but we just weren't able to make it work.

In about a month, we will be taking part in JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes is a devastating disease that affects millions of people. B was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was only 18 months old. The disease is something that affects our life (more of his life than mine) every day. From finger pricking, carb counting and insulin injecting, Type 1 really controls every hour of every day of your life.

This cause is very special to us. We would love your support in our upcoming walk. We aren't asking to break the bank - even $5 helps us to reach our goal (one latte from Starbucks!). Here is a link to our fundraising page:

Brad and Jess Walk to Cure Diabetes.

Before I met B, I really knew nothing about the disease, let alone what it is like to live with it. I found this really interesting "Diabetes Simulator" on the JDRF website that does a pretty good job of explaining a day in the life of a diabetic...here is just a short clip:
Your 24-hour Schedule with Juvenile Diabetes

Time/Action
7:00 a.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 269)
Eat Breakfast (Calculate carbohydrate grams)
Insulin administered (Amount determined by # of carbs and anticipated activity)

9:30 a.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 60)
Have juice to bring blood Glucose up.

11:51 a.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 106)
Eat Lunch (Calculate carbohydrates)
Insulin administered (Amount determined by # of carbs and anticipated activity)

3:05 p.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 167)

6:10 p.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 109)

6:45 p.m. Insulin administered (Amount determined by # of carbs consumed)
Eat Dinner (Calculate carbohydrates)

7:45 p.m. Blood Glucose Check.
Insulin administered (Amount determined by # of carbs consumed)
Eat Dinner (Calculate carbohydrates)

9:00 p.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 56)
Have juice to bring Blood Glucose up. Have snack whether hungry or not.
Check Blood Glucose again in 15 minutes.

9:15 p.m. Blood Glucose Check (Reading: 70)
Coming up, but not high enough yet. Check again in 15 minutes.


Here is a silly picture just for fun..I felt like this blog post needed a cheerful ending.